Chilled to the bone

As I arrived to South Africa for the first tour of the season, I was told that it's been unseasonably hot lately; something which I was of course looking forward to. The group of nine guests received these news with mixed emotions though as they had booked a springtime safari to avoid the heat.

Descending to the lowveld I eagerly kept an eye on the bus's thermometre, as the numbers got higher and higher and by six o'clock that evening had reached a pleasant 25 degrees. As the night progressed however the temperature kept getting lower. Next morning as we met for the first game drive it was a frozen bunch sipping coffee to warm up. We slowly thawed in the sun... only to realize that the evening was going to be clear, with a perfect starry African sky, meaning that the upcoming night would be even cooler!

It was 2 degrees that night, in a tent without heating! I woke up at three, unable to move my legs, as they had warmed up one spot and the rest of the bed was unbearably cold to touch. After contemplating the situation for a few minutes I rushed out of bed and fetched some extra clothes and towels. With towels on top of the duvet and pillows all around me under it, I soon went back to sleep, dressed in knee-high socks.

But as the days went by, the temperature increased again to a pleasant 30, and a week later when the guests had left, to a boiling 39.

/A